Tim Hecker specializes in a very extroverted form of minimalism. He works in huge Glenn Branca-style walls of sound, but his output is more nuanced and subtle. He’s managed to produce a diverse catalog while mining a very specific stylistic vein.
This record is an interesting departure. It’s more literal and openly emotional than his prior work. “Virginal I” uses recognizable instrumentation and actually feels as if it’s being performed by a live ensemble. A bass clarinet and cello ebb and flow around a repeated piano figure that recalls Steve Reich. The two-part “Live Room” plays like a piece of modern chamber music rather than an electronic composition, though Hecker’s treatments are still a unique fingerprint.
“Virginal II” doesn’t recap the first piece so much as it shreds it apart. While Hecker’s prior works played on a certain sort of wistful melancholy, there’s a feeling of actual despair and anger here. Continued...
